Eighty percent of the people incarcerated in the Douglas County jail are there pretrial — meaning they haven’t been convicted and are presumed innocent. That’s just one takeaway from the inmate population data dashboard from the sheriff’s office.
Members of the Lawrence City Commission received an update about the Lawrence Police Department’s progress toward a lengthy list of improvement goals at Tuesday’s meeting.
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People of Color who are stopped by law enforcement in Douglas County are searched or frisked nearly twice as often as white people, an ongoing study shows. That ratio doesn’t change when the search is the officer’s choice.
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About 15 people spoke in favor of a centralized public defender office for Douglas County, and a few others — including the county’s top prosecutor — spoke against it or expressed uncertainty during a hearing Sunday afternoon.
Local residents can share their opinion of whether Douglas County should have an adult felony public defender office during a meeting coming up Sunday afternoon.
Mackenzie Clark
Researchers who have been gathering data to determine whether racial-, ethnic- and other bias-based policing is a problem in Lawrence and Douglas County will present their preliminary findings on Monday, Aug. 9.
After a presentation on racial disparities in bail bonds, the CJCC wants to take a broader look at bond overall, the role it plays, and whether it’s effective in its overall purpose — and drill deeper to get more data.
Report by Matt Cravens for Douglas County CJCC
On average, Black people must pay higher bond amounts than people of other races to be released from the Douglas County jail, according to a new report.
A Douglas County team wants to find out from community members about their experiences, direct or indirect, with mobile responses for people experiencing mental illness and addiction.
